Pretty Boy, With Me
by Thnx4theGum
Summary: Retelling of "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead" entirely from River's POV. Takes everything from the Series 7 finale into account, though no direct spoilers if you haven't seen "The Name of the Doctor." Definite spoilers from Series 4 through "Angels Take Manhattan." Rated "T" for mild language and just to be safe. Doctor/River
1. Expectation vs Reality

**Author's Note: Every time I watch "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead" my mind wanders through the Doctor and River's story and my fingers itch to try and tell things from her POV. I know there are plenty more Library fics out there, and there will probably be even more given the Series 7 finale. Hopefully I can do her justice. I plan to update every Monday.**

**Disclaimer: I am not the BBC or Steven Moffat but I do like playing with their toys.**

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**Chapter 1: Expectation vs Reality**

_No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man. - Heraclitus of Ephesus_

"The Library. Come as soon as you can."

River Song paused for a moment, then smiled and pantomimed a kiss even as she closed the note with her usual flourish, rather than her name. He would know who it was from.

Had she not been trapped in a ship on an official archaeology expedition she might have considered defacing an ancient cliff-face or stealing a home box, though she knew he would come all the same. He always came. Her lips curved upwards in a small smile, imagining him twitching and slapping at his breast pocket as the message came through on his end. To be perfectly honest she didn't think she'd need him this time around but it never hurt to be safe and his company would certainly help keep the tedium at bay. No to mention annoy the hell out of Lux.

She hoped against hope that it was an older doctor who'd show up; at the very least one who'd done Area 52. Lately, she'd been running into earlier and earlier versions of him so she wouldn't count on whatever version of her husband showed up knowing they were married. A wistful memory of the last time she'd seen the Doctor – _her _Doctor – played across her mind, releasing a third smile on her lips in as many minutes.

There had been two of them, actually, because she'd accidentally hopped in the wrong TARDIS. Her sentimental idiot had taken her to see those million, billion stars one too many times apparently, and that time it had caught up with them. She should have known that the bumbling Doctor who spun to greet her was younger than the one she came with, but in the end it hadn't mattered and in fact had tidied up a few loose ends from that very first night he'd whisked her away from Stormcage. The extra voices. The dress.

"The mind races," she had grinned saucily at the pair of them before gleefully announcing where they were off to and departing for the correct TARDIS. It was worth it just to watch the younger him squirm uncomfortably, though just before she turned she thought she'd caught a hint of melancholy cross his fair features.

The com-light pinged, halting any further reminiscing and Anita's voice intruded on the silence of River's cabin, "Professor Song?"

"Here," she replied, all business.

"The Girl Wonder's got herself stuck in the escape pod again," Anita informed her with a long-suffering sigh. "Oh, and Proper Dave says will be hitting the atmosphere in five minutes."

"Best go get her," River replied, reaching for a tie to pull back her hair. "Take Other Dave with you and meet on the bridge as soon as you've got her."

"Yes, ma'am," came the reluctant response.

"And, Anita?"

"Yes, Professor?"

"Do try not to insult her in front of Mr. Lux," she gently chided the other woman. "At least not until we've broken the seals."

There was something between a snort and a laugh on the other end of the com before it clicked, returning the cabin to its former silence.

* * *

Though the environmental checks had assured them there was nothing to worry about, River wasn't about to take any chances and had ordered the team to remain in full gear until she was convinced otherwise. Miss Evangelista had sported a definite pout, no doubt contemplating the effects of the helmet on her perfectly coifed hair, but the others said nothing, knowing Professor Song wouldn't stand for it.

There had been a tense moment when they entered the codes that the techs back at Lux-Corp had assured would grant them access to the Library, but it had worked and they all heaved a huge sigh of relief.

"Touch nothing," River said, more to Lux and Miss Evangelista than anyone. Her team knew better.

All in all, their first minutes had been rather uneventful. True, there was an eerie stillness to the place that was palpable but aside from that nothing seemed amiss. Lux had provided them with basic schematics of the layout months ago and River had committed them to memory so that she was able to guide them toward one of the planet's small gift shops like they were on a casual stroll through the park.

They were somewhere near the Biography section when she heard the first noise coming from elsewhere and she was now thankful for the helmet that hid her silly grin. He did love a good gift shop.

"This way," she nodded to a door slightly to their left down a long corridor of books and held out her hand.

She could practically feel Lux's scowl on her back as Other Dave handed her a charge to affix to the door once it proved to be locked. He'd known they couldn't count on codes getting them through every door and this one felt as if there was something physical blocking the door itself from the other side.

It wasn't the gift shop, she realized when the door blew, but she'd been right about who she would find on the other side. With perhaps a bit more swagger than was necessary she strode into the room ahead of the rest, ignoring the droning voice that warned about the Library being breached and fixing her eyes instead on the man in the room.

For a long moment she did nothing but stand in front of him, the respirator in her suit filling the silence between them. The face mask had darkened to protect her eyes from the mini explosion and gave her a modicum of privacy to come to terms with the lack of tweed and bow-tie standing in front of her.

She depressed the button on the back of the helmet, clearing the visor, and gave him her best grin along with her customary greeting, "Hello, Sweetie!"

His curt frown was not something she expected in return and she had to remind herself that this face was a bit more blunt than the other one.

"Doctor," she whispered almost to herself as his rant picked up speed and escalated; it was good to see him again.

He was telling them to get back in their little rocket and fly away and while she was listening with half an ear she'd already decided to have a bit of fun with him to try and dispel the tension.

"Pop your helmets everyone," she said, as if he'd merely been commenting on the weather. "We got breathers."

"How do you know they're not androids?" Anita questioned suspiciously.

"Because I've dated androids," River grinned, releasing her hair from the helmet's confines and breathing in the musty aroma of books even as she eyed the Doctor. "They're rubbish."

He was busy eyeing everyone else in the room, while standing guard in front of the woman River assumed was his latest companion; a woman every bit as ginger as Amy. She wondered if he did that subconsciously.

Meanwhile Lux was blathering on about encountering other people on _his _expedition.

"I lied. I'm always lying," the long-rehearsed speech fell from her lips without a single thought. "Bound to be others."

Anita must've heard enough to be convinced and had removed her helmet while Lux barked at Miss Evangelista for the contracts.

"You came come through the North Core, yeah?" River turned her attention to the Doctor now, "How was that? Much damage?"

"Please leave," his hands were on his hips, "I'm asking you properly and seriously just leave – Hang on!" He whirled around for another good look at the group before questioning, "Did you say expedition?"

River didn't bother to hide her smirk when Lux piped up again about _his _expedition, knowing full-well what the Doctor was getting at. Sure enough the whinging started up before Lux had even finished, head shaking as he rounded on her.

"Tell me you're not archeologists?"

His reaction was so overdramatic she assumed he was giving her a hard time so she responded in kind, unable to hold back the smirk, "Got a problem with archeologists?"

"I'm a time traveler," came the dry response, hands back on his hips, "I point and laugh at archeologists."

_Indeed_, she thought, smiling at the memories of him doing exactly that more times than she could count, though all in good fun. _Perhaps that started here._ She mentally shrugged, not bothering with the wibbly nature of their relationship at the moment.

"Ah," is what she said aloud, removing her hand from her glove and playing it up for all it was worth. "Professor River Song," she paused for the briefest of beats, enjoying this coy game of theirs before putting extra emphasis on the last, "_archeologist._"

He'd get her later for that, she was sure, as his hand tightened around hers and turned her around, once again imploring them to leave and quarantine the planet. She stood observing his actions and the tone of his voice as he took Anita by the shoulders and propelled her back into the circle of light they were all standing in.

The Doctor continued his rant, emotions leaking all over the place as he looked from one placid face to the next searching for the fear he thought they should have. It was when he took Other Dave over to the door that River noticed how dark even this room had become since they'd first entered and it was the first time she thought perhaps the Doctor was not simply trying to shoo the rest of the archeologists as far away as possible to get a private word with her.

She gave a small smile as, predictably, the Doctor and his companion tore Lux's contracts in half and she gave the pair extra points for their timing, but couldn't hide the growing concern from her voice as she snapped at Lux, willing the stupid man to keep his mouth shut.

"You think there's danger here?" her focus returned to the Doctor, this time focusing on his body language as well as his words.

He did. The sardonic, "could be," sealing it for her.

Surely whatever had killed these people was long gone, however, and she pointed out just how long it had been silent in the Library in case he wasn't thinking in terms of linear time. Wouldn't be a first for him.

"Bet your life?" His voice was soft and grave, hands resting in his pockets, a sure sign of how much calm he was attempting to project.

_He should know better than to ask,_ was what she thought even as her lips quirked to reply, "Always."

His eyes glanced over her from head to toe and she felt hopeful that they were finally on the same page. It was as if someone had flicked a switch and almost immediately the tone in the room changed. Lux must have sensed it too even as Other Dave began sealing the door like the Doctor had instructed.

River remained where she was, letting the Doctor call the shots for now. She watched him closely, listening to him mutter to his companion as he shone the torch toward one of the darker corners of the room. Moments like these were his classroom and he was every bit the professor she was, though he'd never admit it. His back was turned but she could picture his brown eyes – wary, yes, - but also slightly eager as he worked out this newest mystery.

Still, something wasn't sitting right about the way he was acting because he should have called her over to consult by now so when he turned abruptly having clearly discovered what he was searching for she decided it was high time they did diaries. If he had one.

She barked orders to her team, deciding to ignore Miss Evangelista for the time being and stuff Lux and his big mouth into his helmet to afford her a modicum of peace. He caught on quicker than she'd hoped but at least she'd gotten in the last word as she headed off to meet with the Doctor.

The Doctor, however, hadn't come and was instead over with Proper Dave at the computer terminal.

"Pretty Boy, I said with me," she put a bit more force behind the request this time, wondering why he was ignoring her so much.

His exchange with his companion was slightly comical, but she busied herself in the corner until he finally decided to acknowledge her summons was for him. She convinced herself he was just playing the fool for the rest of them. It took all the composure she could muster not to round on him as soon as he arrived, diving instead into the relative safety of rummaging through her knapsack and comparing diaries.

"Thanks," she said when he cleared his throat, looking down at the worn pages of her faded blue book.

"For what?" he replied, arms crossed as if he had not a clue what she was referring to.

"The usual," she didn't look up, too busy searching for a good starting point since it was clear he didn't have a diary of his own yet. "For coming when I called."

"Oh that was you?" his tone was cooler and laced with more suspicion than she was used to, even for this face.

"You're doing a very good job acting like you don't know me," her attention was still more on the book than him and she felt too tired and old for the runaround, "I'm assuming there's a reason."

"A fairly good one actually," was his response and she took him at his word.

"Okay," she said brightly, finding an event that could be close to where they were at. She decided to show off a bit since he was playing it so close to the vest, pointing out right from the get go that she knew it was early days for him.

It was only after the words had slipped her mouth that she realized she'd have to go back further than the Byzantium as it had definitely been a tweed and bow-tie Doctor at that one, even if he had been all baby-faced there too. She flipped back a few pages more, knowing how perilously close to the beginning of his story she was getting.

She was sure he had to have done the Asgard Picnic, her voice belying the fondness of the memory but again she was met with a blank look. Silently, she cursed the fates that had assigned her full knowledge of who he was before she'd met him the first time, while _he _knew her less and less. Still, there were a few pages she hadn't covered.

It was only when she looked into his eyes – really looked – she realized just how early this was for him. Lowering the book and forgetting how she might seem to him, she held his gaze, marveling at how _young _he was. He protested, further cementing in her mind how very little he knew of her.

Her hand moved of its own accord, palm gently cupping his cheek, fingers brushing against the soft, spiky hair. She had never dreamed at her beginning that their history would stretch this far back and she took a moment to soak it all in despite his reticence.

"You've seen me before, then?"

His words broke the spell, twisting slowly like a knife in her gut.

"Doctor," there was a pleading desperation in her voice that she couldn't keep out no matter how much she wanted and her hand dropped from his face to his shoulder, "please tell me you know who I am?"

He looked at her hand, then back up at her and spoke the words she'd spent her whole life dreading, "Who are you?"

The hand retracted mechanically, a thousand emotions swarming through her mind far too fast even for her to process. Mercifully an alarm sounded somewhere so that she didn't have to answer him. Not that she could have if she'd wanted to. She bowed her head back down to her book, ducking out of the conversation around her; knowing eventually she would have to contemplate what to do next.


	2. Hide The Damage

**Thanks for all of the favs/reviews!**

**Sadly, Moffat still hasn't given me the rights to Doctor Who, though it is worth mentioning I've lifted a good amount of his dialogue for this story. **

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**Chapter 2: Hide the Damage**

_Life is like the River, sometimes it sweeps you gently along and sometimes the rapids come out of nowhere. - Emma Smith_

She can hear the phone's steady pulse echoing in the Library but her mind is lightyears away. Years ago when she and the Doctor and Amy and Rory had been in an abandoned warehouse on an all-too-familiar street corner in Florida she'd shared her fear with the one man every little girl turns to when she's scared of the unknown. Not that Rory had known he was her dad just then any more than he knew she was Mels Zucker, but it had been good to get it off her chest all the same.

Amidst all the lies she'd been forced to tell during that trip she'd allowed herself that small concession of truth just as she now allowed herself a few seconds to regain her composure while the Doctor contemplated where the ringing was coming from. Not much had changed since 1969. She still lived for the days when she saw him; lived in fear of the day he wouldn't have the faintest idea who she was. And now that day had come.

The blank look in his eyes and the hollow pit in her stomach were worse than she'd imagined, in one way, yet there was hardly any time for her to properly process if this was as bad as she'd feared because of whatever was going on in the Library in the present. Indeed she found her legs moving of their own volition as they all gathered around the screen the Doctor was fiddling with.

A ripple of surprise ran through the group when a little girl appeared on the other end. River schooled her features, but couldn't help a quick peek around the Doctor's head to get a good look. The girl looked slightly frightened and almost as confused as the Doctor sounded, but she was polite enough, asking if they wanted to speak to her dad. Then in a flash of recognition the girl identified the Doctor as being the one she'd seen in "her" Library.

This piqued River's interest, driving her own issues back. For as much as he'd given them, River knew Lux was keeping something important back, though she hadn't worked out what it was or why it was such a huge secret. Lux Corp had been the ones to contact her nearly a year ago with the news that their techs were close to breaking the seals that had closed the planet a century ago, along with an invitation to put together a team to explore it. Lux himself had decided archaeologists were the ones best suited to unearth the mystery surrounding what had happened here and while it was no dig in Cairo, River had jumped at the opportunity.

"What happened? Who was that?" she asked when the little girl vanished as quickly as she disappeared.

The Doctor was pounding at the keyboard to no avail, however, and soon took off to try the terminal at the back of the room.

That was enough to spur her to action too, "You heard him people, let there be light!"

She might have begun coordinating the effort but it occurred to her that would mean leaving the Doctor alone in the corner with her diary enticing him. Sure enough his eyes were darting back and forth between it and the screen. Her warning glare as she gained the corner wasn't enough to tame his curiosity and while she could understand what drew him to take hold of it, she couldn't allow him to continue either.

"Sorry," and she really was, though her voice came out waspish through her own garbled emotions. "You're not allowed to see inside the book, it's against the rules."

His gaze was quizzical, "Rules? What rules?"

"Your rules," was her reply, leaving it at that because one day he'd have to write the rules himself and she didn't want to change history.

His eyes followed her as she left but his rules were what occupied her thoughts as she stowed her diary and went to help with the lighting situation. "Don't wander off" might have been at the top of the list for his companions but he'd rewritten Rule One for her – for his wife. He hadn't told her that she would have to lie to him one day as well but she'd picked that up quick once the balance of knowledge began shifting in her direction. She'd even taken to using his word.

Spoilers.

Her diary was one big spoiler and she made a mental note not to leave it laying about again during this trip. For now she'd stick to Rule 7: "Never run when you're scared." She wasn't scared, like the Doctor, about what was going on in the Library, but she was frightened that she was now on the very first page of their adventures. One false move on her part could change the trajectory of their relationship. One wrong step and their stolen moments of time would be rewritten. He'd been very clear about the rules of the diary on her first night out of Stormcage and she would guard its secrets to the end.

She and Other Dave were hunched over the mess of cables connecting the growing circle of lights when books began flying off the shelves, pelting them from several directions. Poorly aimed, it felt as if whoever and wherever the little girl was, she was having a tantrum.

The Doctor and Proper Dave were yelling back and forth, Miss Evangelista was whimpering and the rest were dodging books while they went about their tasks. Out of the corner of her eye, River saw the Doctor's companion approach the nervous girl and attempt to calm her. Of anyone on the expedition she was the least-equipped to handle any type of emergency and had been the butt of more than a few jokes at the team's expense during the four-day flight out.

River herself hadn't joined in and she'd made sure to corral her students when Lux or Miss Evangelista had been around, but she hadn't stopped them, either. On her way from fetching her helmet and bag, River caught snatches of the conversation and was thankful toward the other woman for trying to lighten the mood.

"What's causing that?" River asked the Doctor when the books flew at them a second time. "Is it the little girl?"

"But who is the little girl?" came the response, more to himself than to her. "What's she got to do with this place?"

A minute later he abandoned the terminal and perched on countertop, addressing her directly for the first time since the diary talk, "How does the data core work? What's the principle? What's CAL?"

She redirected him, "Ask Mr. Lux." Because if there was ever anyone who could get answers from that man it would be the Doctor.

When Lux chose to mount his high horse instead of giving a straight answer River allowed herself a private smile. No matter what face he wore, her husband never liked getting the run around and the look on his face told her he held about as much respect for Lux as she did. Good thing the two men hadn't spent four linear days in space together.

"Then why don't you sign his contract?" she threw in her two cents when the tension grew thick enough to cut with a knife. She paused to let the thought soak in, enjoying his saucer-shaped eyes goggling at her like she'd grown a third nostril, then threw him a saucy grin, "I didn't either. I'm getting worse than you."

Neither Lux nor the Doctor knew what to do with that and there was the sort of perverse pleasure she got when pulling one over on a younger him, before he shook it off and began pacing.

_Have all of his regenerations paced?_ she wondered silently, her eyes following him as he thought aloud, though she made sure to shoot Lux a look that said he'd best stop lying.

"There was a message from the Library," hands resting confidently on her hips River fielded his questions, filling him in on what little she knew. "Just one. 'The lights are going out.' Then the computer sealed the planet, and there was nothing for a hundred years."

"It's taken three generations of my family just to decode the seals and get back in," Lux added.

For a moment no one spoke but when Miss Evangelista broke the silence, no one turned to look and Lux shut her down with an irritated snap.

"There was one last thing in the last message," River volunteered, meeting nobody's eyes and digging for her PDA in the knapsack.

Lux wasn't pleased but she knew he wouldn't be and wasn't shocked when he blurted out, "That's confidential!"

"I trust this man," River insisted, wondering how many times she'd repeated that sentiment. "With my life," that bit was for Lux but the next was for the man standing beside her, "With everything."

"But you've only just met him," if Lux had been a toddler he'd be stamping his feet by now, but River could have cared less.

"No," she corrected, barely sparing him a glance as she concentrated on not losing control of her emotions as she admitted, "he's only just met me."

However unnerved that might have made him, she felt more than saw the Doctor enter her personal space as she finished pulling up the file and the familiarity of his nearness was comforting.

"This is a data extract that came with the message," she held the screen between them.

He read it aloud, "4022 saved. No survivors."

When he did didn't reward her intel with a smile her heart fractured ever so slightly, but she kept her voice measured as she spelled out the meaning for him, "4022, that's the exact number of people who were in the Library when the planet was sealed."

"But how can 4022 people be saved if there are no survivors?" puzzled the Doctor's companion from the other side of him.

River gave Lux her best passive aggressive stare, letting only a hint of it out in her reply, "That's what we're here to find out."

"And so far what we haven't found are any bodies," came Lux's reply.

He sounded disappointed by that fact.

The piercing scream severed whatever might have been asked next and River's hearts sank as she realized it could only belong to one person. Scooping up his torch, the Doctor shot out of the room and the others ran to keep up with him, exiting through a door River didn't remember seeing before.

This must have been what Miss Evangelista was trying to tell them all about and they'd shoved her aside as they'd done the entire trip. True, the girl wasn't anything close to clever, but she had been a part of the team and River was not looking forward to whatever awaited them in the next room.

None of them – except perhaps the Doctor – expected to find a skeleton in an empty room where the young personal assistant should have been. River had gotten her first clue as to the skeleton's identity when her voice echoed over the com throughout the room. The sinking feeling had only grown worse when she reached out to turn the com-collar forward.

"It's her," she breathed, not wanting to believe what her eyes were telling her. "It's Miss Evangelista."

"We heard her scream a few seconds ago," Anita sounded puzzled. "What could do that to a person in a few seconds?"

From her right River heard the Doctor mutter, "It took a lot less than a few seconds."

"What did?" Anita was still lost.

"Hello?"

As the high, nasal voice floated up, River noticed the three green bars still glowing on the collar.

"Um, I'm sorry everyone, um, this isn't going to be pleasant," her voice held a grim note. "She's ghosting."

"She's what?" the Doctor's companion inquired while the rest braced themselves.

Miss Evangelista spoke again, calling out to be heard and River felt sorry as the truth dawned on the Doctor's companion. She had no such compassion for Proper Dave, a man from the 51st century who should be well-versed enough in the technology to handle the truth and afford the dying woman her dignity. She reproved him accordingly.

"But that's Miss Evangelista," the ginger woman repeated in a wavering voice.

"It's a Data Ghost," River explained before another member of her team could say something ignorant, "she'll be gone in a moment." She spoke into the com, attempting to find the right words. The right lies. "Miss Evangelista, you're fine, just relax. We'll be with you presently."

She kept her eyes trained on what remained of Miss Evangelista, though she was listening to the Doctor as he further explained Data Ghosts to his companion. Anita offered up her own story, trying to further soften the blow but it didn't do much.

"She's in there!" the now-horrified woman gasped even as the younger woman asked where she was and a green bar faded.

"She's just brain waves now," Proper Dave tried to explain. "The pattern won't hold for long."

But she did hold for a bit longer. Long enough to call for the only friendly person she'd met in her journey. River could do no more than stand and keep the com-line open for the Doctor's companion to walk with the younger woman as the tide rolled in. It wasn't easy for any of them to listen to, especially when Miss Evangelista's last full thought was a worry that the others would find one final laugh at her expense.

"She's looping now, the pattern's degrading." And so it was. And it only got worse as the seconds dragged on. "Does anyone mind if I...?" she let the question dangle as the ghosting process continued to deteriorate and when no one objected she stepped forward and quietly clicked the neural relay off.

"That was..." the Doctor's companion struggled for words, "that was horrible. That was the most horrible thing I've ever seen."

"No," River spoke softly with a wisdom culled from hundreds of years' travel through time and space. "It's just a freak of technology." She pocketed the relay, looking about the room once more, "But whatever did this to her. Whatever _killed _her -" she shone her torch through the darkness, resolve strengthening. "I'd like a word with that."

The Doctor's voice sounded behind her, as grimly determined as hers, "I'll introduce you."


	3. Introductions

**Right, so this is coming in a bit later than I'd hoped, but then again it's longer too. And Matt Smith decided to leave without asking, thinking he's doing everyone a favour by dying at CHRISTMAS! And Moffat said he'd make us cry; like that isn't his MO any other week. *sigh***

**Anyway, this part of the episode is so rife with "fillable" moments. Feedback is always welcome. :)**

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**Chapter 3: Introductions**

_A river cuts through rock, not because of its power but because of its persistence. - Jim Watkins_

They returned to the room, taking refuge in the light.

"I'm gonna need a packed lunch," the Doctor announced as they came in.

"Hang on," River had just the thing and she rummaged in her knapsack for her lunch tin. Of course the book had to be in the way.

The Doctor's eyes were drawn to it like a magnet, "What's in that book?"

River kept her emotions in check as she answered, "Spoilers."

"Who are you?" his voice was bordering on demanding.

"Professor River Song," she managed, hating every second of this conversation, "University of..."

He cut her off, eyeing her so intensely she kept her head bent, "To me. Who are you to me?"

So many answers flew through her mind but each would raise more questions for him and right now she couldn't decide what to say so she stuck with, "Again: spoilers." Her hand closed around the metal tin and she extended it to him, "Chicken and a bit of salad. Knock yourself out."

He looked at her for a long moment as if weighing whether or not to press for more then stood up and declared with a new air of confidence, "Right you lot. Let's all meet the Vashta Nerada!"

He flipped the torch up in the air, catching it handily. Everyone took a step back, forming a ring within the light as the Doctor began his search. No one but River, and perhaps the Doctor's companion expected that meant him getting down on all fours and crawling around the perimeter of the circle, sending a steady stream of sonic pulses into the darkness.

River smiled fondly at how intense his focus was before asking the woman beside her, "You travel with him, don't you? The Doctor, you travel with him."

"What of it?" came the clipped response and River turned to face her as the Doctor moved Proper Dave out of his way. But then the tone shifted to curiosity, "You know him, don't you?"

"Oh, God, do I know that man," River sighed with the weight of so many memories. "We go way back, that man and me. Just not this far back."

"I'm sorry what?"

As she spoke she felt eyes boring into the side of her head, although her own eyes could not leave the man in question. "He hasn't met me yet," she admitted, and if she didn't have the other woman's attention she had it now and River turned to meet the questioning gaze and elaborate. "I sent him a message but it went wrong, it arrived too early. This is the Doctor in the days before he knew me."

River paused, swallowing a lump in her throat and continued her confession if only to speak her worst fears aloud, "And he looks at me." _With a different face; different eyes_, she thought to herself, then pressed on, "He looks right through me and it shouldn't kill me but it does."

"What are you _talking _about?!" Clearly this companion wasn't following the conversation, nor had she heard the catch in River's voice and was now demanding answers. "Are you just talking rubbish? Do you know him or don't you?"

It was only when the Doctor groused, "Donna! Quiet! I'm working," that River realised who it was standing beside her and it was only that which pulled her out of her own emotional quagmire.

"Donna," she stated more than asked, feeling slightly awed, "You're Donna – Donna Noble?"

"Yeah," Donna answered with a shrug in her voice, "Why?"

_Why, indeed?_ River's mind spun a dozen answers, none of which she could vocalise. Little Melody Pond had been taught about the Doctor's Great Companion, then told how his tenth incarnation had mind-raped her in the end so that she couldn't recall who he was; so that he could claim the glory that was rightfully hers. Madame Kovarian had forced her to study all of the Doctor's companions so that she knew what happened to them in the end.

As Mels, the only companions of the Doctor that interested her were her parents because more than anything she wanted to know why they allowed the Doctor to delude them in the first place. After Berlin, River Song had become a student of history and besides deconstructing all of the lies of her childhood concerning the Doctor himself, she had also studied those who travelled with him.

Donna Noble. The temp from Chiswick of whom songs were sung throughout the universe. River should have known.

"I _do _know the Doctor," River assured her with a gentle confidence. "But in the future. His personal future."

"So why don't you know me?" came the vulnerable question that struck the archaeologist at her core. "Where am I in the future?"

These were questions River could not answer for the answers went far beyond the spoilers she and the Doctor batted back and forth between them. And even if she could have revealed something she wouldn't want to. Couldn't stomach the thought of casting any sort of pall over this companion's limited time with the Doctor.

She was saved from answering by the Doctor himself, who'd finally found what he was looking for.

"Okay, got a live one!" he exclaimed, leaping from the floor and turning to let them all in on his secret. "That's not darkness down those tunnels," he pointed behind him, "this is not a shadow. It's a swarm. A man-eating swarm."

Milliseconds after he tossed the chicken leg outside the light it clattered to the floor, stripped to the bone as Miss Evangelista had been.

"The piranhas of the air," came the theatrical explanation, "the Vashta Nerada. Literally 'the shadows that melt the flesh.' Most planets have them, but usually in small clusters. I've never seen an infestation on this scale, or this aggressive."

"What d'you mean, 'most planets,'" Donna wanted to know. "Not Earth?"

"Mmmm, Earth," River watched him turn to Donna, eyes wide with expression, "and a billion other worlds. Where there's meat, there's Vashta Nerada. You can see them sometimes if you look. The dust in sunbeams."

River's team was now properly scared and gazing at the shadows that engulfed the room, but Donna still had eyes only for the Doctor and right now she was in denial, "If they were on Earth, we'd know."

"Nah," he gently rebuffed her, "normally they live on roadkill, but sometimes people go missing. Not everyone comes back out of the dark."

As he was speaking, River was shining her torch about the room as if the Vashta Nerada would reveal themselves to her. Clearly she needed more data and called out, "Every shadow?"

"No," his voice held a grim note, "but any shadow."

"So what do we do?" she trusted he would have the answer.

"Daleks: aim for the eyestalk. Sontarans: back of the neck. Vashta Nerada," here he paused to swivel and face her. "Run! Just run."

"Run? Run where?" she wanted to know, knowing their window of escape was narrow at best.

"This is an index point," the Doctor moved into action and pinned Lux with his eyes. "There must be an exit teleport somewhere."

"Don't look at me," the other man shook his head, "I haven't memorised the schematics!"

"Doctor?" Donna was pointing to her right, "The little shop! The always make you go through the little shop on the way out so they can sell you stuff."

He dashed across the room and peered into the little shop, "You're right! Brilliant! That's why I like the little shop!"

"Okay, let's move it!" Proper Dave began moving as fast as he could but was pulled up short by a word from the Doctor.

River froze too, observing the scene over her shoulder and getting the dull feeling that she was about to lose another team member. The Doctor pointed out the extra shadow and informed everyone that this latching on was how the Vashta Nerada kept their meat fresh.

"You stay absolutely still," the Doctor instructed. "Like there's a wasp in the room. Like there's a million wasps."

"We're not leaving you, Dave," River assured him as color drained from the man's face."

"'Course we're not leaving," the Doctor reaffirmed, keeping his eyes fixed on the young pilot. "Where's your helmet? Don't point, just tell me."

It was Anita who found the courage to move first toward the helmet and River steadied her as she carefully moved around Proper Dave's extra shadow and over to the helmet. She handed it to the Doctor who thanked her and ordered the rest to don their own helmets.

Donna spotted the flaw in the plan right away and she wasn't at all taken in by the Doctor's lie, either.

"Professor, anything I can do with the suit?" his address was so formal it hurt but she kept the emotions far removed from the surface, consoling herself that he at least was consulting with her.

"What good are the damn suits?" Lux had finally caught on to the danger and was beginning to panic. "Miss Evangelista was wearing her suit, there was nothing left."

It was up to River to come up with a clever lie to make the rest think they were doing something helpful and her inventory of their current assets had come up with only one possible solution, "We can increase the mesh-density, dial it up 400%. Make it a tougher meal."

"Okay," she heard the whir of his sonic and now knew why he'd given her a certain gift when they'd come back from the Towers. "800%! Pass it on."

That he was even willing at this point to put a sonic in her hands was a comfort compared to the scorn she was used to with this face and she decided his future self had remembered this moment in their past and seen fit to properly equip her ahead of time.

_Best give him a show to remember. _She smirked to herself and held up her screwdriver at the same time he did his, only belatedly realising that crowing "Gotcha," might not have been the best of plans.

"What's that?" Skeptical Doctor was back in an instant.

"It's a screwdriver," she was River Song, mistress of the obvious.

"It's a sonic."

What she thought was, _No shit, Sherlock, _but she settled for the blander, "Yeah, I know. Snap!"

She felt his eyes on her as she went about the task at hand until he released her from his gaze to deal with his companion. The pair disappeared into the small shop and she would lay odds he'd found decided to trick Donna into transporting onto the Tardis. What Kovarian and the Silence never understood was that it was an overabundance of compassion – not a lack – that made this maddening, impossible man tick. And he _always _moved his companions out of harm's way when possible.

"Professor?" it was Anita's voice that brought her back to the present and she followed the other woman's line of sight toward Proper Dave.

"Doctor!" she summoned him, praying he'd had enough time to do what he'd intended.

Her conclusions were confirmed when he reentered the room at a run – and alone – demanding, "Where did it go?"

"It's just gone," Dave answered, twisting about. "I...I looked round, one shadow. See?"

"Does that mean we can leave?" River asked hopefully. "I don't want to hang around here."

"I don't know why we're still here," Lux threw in his two cents'. "We can leave him, can't we? I mean, no offence..."

"Shut up, Mr. Lux!" River snapped, wishing it had been that odious man the shadows had attacked first.

The Doctor was still focus on Proper Dave, pelting him with questions, "Did you feel anything? Like an energy transfer? Anything at all?"

"No, no," he threw up his hands and turned to prove his point, "Look, it's, it's gone-"

"Stop there. Stop, stop, stop there. Stop moving!" There was a nervous energy in his voice that set River even further on edge than the words he uttered next, "They're never just gone and they never give up."

He knelt down and began investigating the shadows again with the sonic, eventually concluding, "Well, this one's benign.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" Proper Dave demanded suddenly.

"No one," the Doctor popped his head up for a look, "they're fine."

"No, seriously, turn them back on," the younger man insisted.

"They are on," River informed him.

"I can't see a ruddy thing," Dave complained.

The Doctor spoke cautiously, "Dave, turn round."

"What's going on?" he asked nervously as he followed the Doctor's instructions in a jerky manner. "Why can't I see? Is the power gone? Are we safe here?"

"Dave, I want you to stay still, absolutely still," came the order just before Dave began twitching violently. "Dave, Dave?" the Doctor yelled. "Dave can you hear me, are you all right? Talk to me, Dave."

The twitching stopped and Dave assured them, "I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm... I'm fine."

The Doctor continued urging the other man to stay still from from the speech pattern River could tell that it was too late.

"He's gone," she said when the green wifi signal dropped a bar and he began repeating the same question over and over. "He's ghosting."

"Then why is he still standing?" Lux pointed out, for the first time proving he wasn't a complete waste of space.

"Hey!" Proper Dave was talking again, though the voice still had a ghosting sound to it. "Who turned out the lights?"

Far too curious for his own good, the Doctor moved closer instead of further away and River knew he wanted to challenge the swarm that had just killed a man.

"Doctor, don't," she said uselessly.

He ignored her, "Dave, can you hear me?"

But whatever was in the suit merely replied, "Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

One of the Doctor's trainers left the ground, propelling him forward for a closer look and River readied herself for the inevitable. Sure enough, the body that had belonged to Proper Dave shot out its arms and began choking the Doctor about the neck. She waited just long enough to give him a fair shot at freeing himself before springing into action.

"Excuse me," she said, reaching over his shoulder so that she was between Proper Dave and the Doctor and sending an sonic charge through the suit's port, noting the skeletal face that stared back at her through the visor.

"Back from it," the Doctor ordered, regaining his feet and spreading his arms to protect her now. "Get back, right back!"

The skeleton began lumbering toward them even as they were backed closer to the shadows.

"Doesn't move very fast, does it?" observed River lightly.

"It's a swarm in a suit," the Doctor replied as if she were the daft one. "But it's learning."

Several shadows emerged from the skeleton, growing with every second that passed.

"What do we do? Where do we go?" Lux demanded as the shadows continued moving outward.

Time for plan B, River decided even as she asked Lux, "See that wall behind you?" She pulled out the gun and aimed it at the wall behind him, "Duck!"

She gave him just enough time for his head to clear her path, noting that the Doctor leant back as well, before making the shot. Centuries before – on one of her first nights on the Tardis – she'd been exploring and had come across Jack Harkness' squareness gun. The gun suited her more than a screwdriver so she'd taken possession of it.

The Doctor standing in front of her recognised it straight away and the tiny bit of glee in his voice as he ID'd it reminded her of the fond smile her husband had given her when she'd shared her find. He had straightened his bow tie and hemmed and hawed until finally admitting Jack must have left it there after an adventure with his ninth incarnation.

"Everybody out. Go, go, go! Move it, move, move," River ordered, herding them into the corridor. "Move it, move, move!"

The aisle of books they found themselves in was lit, but just barely.

"You said not every shadow?" she confirmed.

"But any shadow," he answered.

Marvelous, since there were nothing _but _shadows all around them, she thought. Still it could be-

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" Skeleton Dave rounded the corner and once again lumbered toward them with its odd gate.

River was never sure who initiated the contact, but next thing she knew the Doctor's hand was clutching hers and they were running for their lives as they had done so many times for her and would for him. It felt good and right despite the danger even after they had to drop hands as they ran faster.

They ran until the footsteps faded once again and it felt safe to slacken the pace, though they were far from safe. Lux was heaving and gulping oxygen, leaning against a shelf for support while Other Dave and Anita were bent in half, nursing side stitches. These were academics, not athletes.

River and the Doctor were barely winded.

The room they'd found had row upon row of hanging lights that still burned feeble pools of light in the dark but compared to the corridors it felt like an oasis. The Doctor found a step-stool and was attacking the nearest lamp with his screwdriver.

"Trying to boost the power," he explained to River, who hadn't left his side since they'd started running. "Light doesn't stop them, but it slows them down."

"So what's the plan?" she said, conversationally, adding her sonic's power to the effort. "Do we have a plan?"

"Your screwdriver..." he trailed off, mystified. He stepped down, gazing hauntingly at the instrument in her hand, "Looks exactly like mine."

He wasn't going to be satisfied with anything less than the truth so she afforded him that and a small smile, "Yeah, you gave it to me."

"I don't give my screwdriver to anyone," was his reply.

"I'm not anyone," she leant forward ever so slightly and smiled, because really that should have been his first clue to who she was. But as old as she was and as long ago as it had been she remembered Berlin and her confusion when all he did was gush about River Song. It was his turn now.

"Who are you?" he asked again.

She kept aloof and repeated her own question, "What's the plan?"

"I teleported Donna back to the Tardis." He must've read that she wasn't about to give him that much truth, "If we don't get back there in under five hours, emergency program one will activate."

"Take her home, yeah," she nodded, glad that at least one bit of the plan was already in motion. Clearly the rest was a thing in progress, so she called to her own team, "We need to get a shift on."

When she turned back round, though, the fear had returned to his eyes, "She's not there." He held the screwdriver up to his ear, "I should've received a signal, the console signals me if there's a teleport breach."

"Well maybe the co-ordinates have slipped, the equipment here's ancient," she frowned.

Unconvinced he sprinted over to a nearby node and began badgering it.

"Donna Noble," he spoke rapidly. "There's a Donna Noble somewhere in this library, do you have the software to locate her position?"

None of them were prepared for the face they saw when the node turned toward them. Nor for the computerized voice that informed them, "Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved."

"Donna," the Doctor breathed her name, unable to take his eyes from the node's face.

"How can it be Donna? How's that possible?" River wondered aloud, her own eyes fixed on Donna's face. Nodes were traditionally only inhabited by the faces of the dead, not the living, and she feared the worst.

The node repeated its message on a loop, invading the silence and sending a chill down each spine.

The Doctor reached up to stroke the lifelike cheek tenderly, "Oh, Donna!"

But the silence was invaded again and this one was a tad bit more dangerous than the node.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Donna Noble has left the Library."

"Doctor," River took one look at the skeleton and hurried her people to their feet but when she came back she saw the Doctor was too lost to take stock of his surroundings. "We've got to go now!" She yelled at him, damning the consequences and pulling him by the hand after the others.

They ran. And ran some more, but they could only go so far until they hit the end of the row of books where another wall of books blocked their way forward.

"Doctor, what are we gonna do?" she asked, their eyes locking.

And for the first time in her life, she wondered if he'd come up with the answer in time.


	4. What's In A Name?

**Took a couple of weeks off for vacation but I'm back! Thanks for all the new follows and reviews. This one is a bit shorter than the rest because of the stopping point but I think it fits. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 4: What's In A Name?**

_Love is like a river, always changing but always finding you again somewhere down the road. - Kelly Elaine_

If there was one place in the world where River Song felt at home it was in a library, though that hadn't always been true. Young Melody Pond had of course been taught to read and write but had never been given access to whatever books she'd wanted. Mels Zucker, meanwhile, hadn't been the studious type, not so much because she hated learning as she'd already picked up the equivalent knowledge in the 20-some years she'd spent waiting for her parents and making her way from an alleyway in New York to Leadworth, England.

No, it had been the newly minted River Song, freshman student at Luna University, who had discovered that even in the 51st century, mankind had not ceased from storing their histories and fictions in bound volumes. And it was within the tranquil rows of books that she made peace with herself once and for all.

The new body River found herself in after Berlin automatically set her apart from the other freshmen on campus and so many years of relying on only herself meant she was more comfortable alone than in a group. Oh, she dabbled in the usuals of college life now and again when it suited her, but by and large she preferred staying up late with her books rather than boys. Several years and half a diary's worth of adventures later she had recounted her college days to Amy, who gave her a knowing smile and suggested River had managed to do both.

Perhaps she had. Madame Kovarian and the Silence had told her one side of the story, a young Amy Pond had shared another, but River wanted to know him for herself. Long after the last of the frat parties had petered out for the night, River could be found in the library or in her small dormitory quarters with a book in hand, taking copious notes in the blue book he'd left her. Through the histories and eyewitness accounts and even the fairy tales she pieced together her own sketch of him, finding him all the more attractive as she did so. The man himself had dropped in on her too, now and again, so that by the time she'd earned her doctorate her love for him was strong enough to rip time itself asunder.

How ironic that currently both a Library and the man she loved were putting that love to the test.

It had been Jack's squareness gun to the rescue again when the Doctor froze between the face of his current companion on a Library node and the skeletal form of Proper Dave lumbering toward them, and River had all but shoved him through the first hole before his legs began moving of their own volition. After that they'd established a pattern: she created the avenue for escape and herded everyone toward the nearest light whilst he scanned the shadows. The further Proper Dave pursued them, the deeper they fled into the Library.

"Okay, we've got a clear spot," River announced for the sixth time since they'd left the node, taking in the welcome oasis the skylight dome offered them even as she gulped for air. "Right in the centre, in the middle of the light, quickly! Don't let your shadows cross. Doctor?"

The sonic began whirring even as he responded, "I'm doing it."

"There's no light's here," she said, taking stock of the rest of the room and glancing at the ceiling before returning her attention to the Doctor. "Sunset's coming, we can't stay long. Have you found a live one?"

"Maybe," he stretched the word out, squinting into the darkness, "it's getting harder to tell." He began thrashing the sonic against his palm as if that could force it to comply shouting, "What's wrong with you?"

"We're gonna need a chicken leg," River stated, attempting and failing to maintain her own emotional equilibrium. "Who's got a chicken leg?"

Other Dave reluctantly produced one from his suit and handed it to her. With a quick word of thanks she took the meat and flung it at the spot the Doctor had been examining. It was stripped before it hit the floor and her stomach sank. Proper Dave was not hosting the only swarm.

"Okay," she was thinking aloud, "okay, we've got a hot one. Watch your feet."

"They won't attack until there's enough of them," the Doctor informed them almost harshly, eyes still forward, "but they've got our scent now. They're coming."

With that, he leapt up, scuttling forward and to one side like a spider, crouching and leaning in as far as he dared.

"Who is he?" Other Dave spoke quietly to her, though his voice carried. "You haven't even told us. You just expect us to trust him."

"He's the Doctor," she replied softly, wishing those three words could be enough to calm their fears.

She should've known it wouldn't suit Lux, who piped up, "And who is 'The Doctor?'"

"The only story you'll ever tell," River snapped back at him and couldn't help adding, "If you survive him."

River bent her head, mind racing, lungs still burning from the run, and hearts pounding at the added emotional burden. Bad enough she'd summoned a Doctor too early in his time-stream, now her team was questioning her judgement.

It was Anita's turn, though at least the other woman's line of reasoning made sense and was spoken gently, "You say he's your friend, but he doesn't even know who you are."

Her friend. One day, that and so much more, though for now even her friend was lost to her.

"Listen, all you need to know is this," she turned to address Anita directly. "I'd trust that man to the end of the universe. And actually, we've been."

Memories of time collapsing at the top of a pyramid circled her thoughts as he continued circling the room and sonicking the air.

"He doesn't act like he trusts you," Anita was unconvinced and River released a sardonic sigh.

"Yeah, there's a tiny problem," she glared at the other woman, not for the first time cursing her backwards relationship with the Doctor and wishing she was anywhere but here. She got to her feet and left them with a parting shot before putting some space between them, "He hasn't met me yet."

In another time and another place she would have been able to grant her fellows more understanding given not even she and the Doctor fully understood their relationship. Right now she craved his presence so she joined him on the outer edge of the light where he sat with his ear pressed against the sonic.

"What's wrong with it?" she asked, coming to stand beside him.

He was clearly concentrating on the sonic but did answer her, "There's a signal coming from somewhere, interfering with it."

"Then use the red settings," she suggested, freeing her hands of the suit's gloves.

His face told her before his words did that this sonic had no red settings.

"Well, use the dampers," she advised, undaunted.

"It doesn't have dampers."

Clearly this was not her day so River produced her own sonic, holding it out to him with a soft, "It will do one day."

Unfortunately, it only served to heighten his suspicion as he snatched it from her and began examining it – and her – closely, "So sometime in the future, I just _give _you my screwdriver?"

She smiled, remembering the night and the love with which it had been given, "Yeah."

"Why would I do that?" he was questioning more than that, she could tell.

The absurdity of it nearly made her laugh and she made a mental note to make him pay for this the next time she met a tweed version, but settled for nettling this one with a sarcastic, "Well I didn't pluck it from your cold, dead hands if that's what you're worried about."

His eyebrows climbed his forehead, "And I know that because...?"

"Listen to me," she dropped the playfulness as the situation was rapidly spiraling out of control. "You've lost your friend, you're angry, I understand." She knew the loss he was feeling. How many nights would she stay with him after Manhattan? She also knew Donna Noble did not die here. "But you need to be less emotional, Doctor, right now."

"Less em- I'm not emotional!" he protested.

Pity a slap wouldn't help her case right now, because he could use it and she was starting to feel more than a bit flustered herself and it leaked into her voice.

"There are five people in this room still alive, focus on _that_," she waved an arm at the maudlin group behind them. "Dear God, you're hard work young!"

"Young?!" He looked at her as if she were mad, "Who are you?"

She wasn't about to give him the truth but she'd squared off for a battle of wits all the same and was interrupted by a perturbed Lux.

"Oh for heaven's sake, look at the pair of you!" he'd risen from his seat and was moving toward them, arms waving. "We're all gonna die right here and you're just squabbling like an old married couple!"

They'd both turned to Lux but at the conclusion of his outburst they turned back to each other as if they'd timed it on purpose. His eyes were wide now with what she read as fear. Fear of the future. Fear of the unknown.

_Never run when you're scared._ That's what he'd taught her so very, very long ago when their situations had been reversed. Along with, _always waste time when you don't have any_. She had kissed him, poisoned him, and yet he even on the threshold of death he'd ordered and threatened and cajoled until he knew she was safe. She'd be damned if she didn't do the same for him now, no matter how young or emotional he was.

"Doctor," that single word was laden with so much emotion, but it helped centre her and she fixed on the one truth that could settle the trust issue between them, though she was loathe to do it. Time, as always, was not on their side, though, and she had no choice but to pray that "always and completely" covered this time too.

"One day I'm going to be someone that you trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out, so I'm going to prove it to you." Her hand moved of its own volition to his chest, remembering the tears in his eyes the night he'd finally divulged his greatest secret while barely keeping her own at bay in the present, "And I'm sorry. I'm really, very sorry."

Ever so tenderly she stood on tiptoe and whispered in his ear low enough that no human in the room could have picked up the sound even if they'd been standing right next to her. The Gallifreyan name slid from her lips effortlessly and she could feel his body go rigid with shock as she stepped back.

Their eyes met again and the shock was registering there too. His anger and suspicion had been drained, but his eyes were still wide and he was mute. She could only imagine what he must be thinking but she also knew it might be the only thing that kept them alive at this point.

"Are we good?" She needed to know for her own sake as much as his.

Stunned silence answered her.

"Doctor," she tried again, enunciating each word, "are we good?"

"Yeah," his voice was breaking with a different emotion now. "Yeah, we're good."

"Good," she replied, and with a parting nod she turned and left.


	5. Not Quite Finished

**Onward we go into the penultimate chapter. Thanks for the support!**

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**Chapter 5: Not Quite Finished**

_Rivers know this: There is no hurry. We shall get there some day. - A.A. Millne via Winnie the Pooh_

Apparently they _were_ good, because no sooner had River retrieved her screwdriver and joined her team did the Doctor suddenly regain his familiar overconfidence.

"Know what's interesting about my screwdriver? Very hard to interfere with, virtually nothing's strong enough." He gave a rueful smile, almost prancing in a circuit around all of them; a clear indicator that his emotions were calming, "_Well_, some hairdryers, but I'm working on that. So there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere, and it wasn't there before, so what's new? What's changed?"

Eyes scanned every inch of the room and still the Doctor circled them.

Clearly he expected someone to pick up on something because he began shouting impatiently at them, "Come on! What's new? What's different?"

Other Dave was the first to hazard a guess, "I dunno, nothing. It's getting dark?"

He stopped not three feet from River, looking past her to Other Dave and condescendingly informed him, "It's a screwdriver, it works in the dark."

River sincerely wanted to reach out and and smack him or tell him to go build a cabinet, but she'd only just gained his trust so she kept her mouth shut as he continued scanning the room intently with his eyes.

"Moonrise," he murmured as if noticing the orb for the first time. Pointing with the screwdriver he enquired, "Tell me about the moon. What's there?"

"It's not real," Lux explained, "it was built as part of the Library. It's just a doctor moon."

This caught the Doctor's attention and he pursued the thought, "What's a doctor moon?"

"A virus checker." Lux answered. "It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet."

The sonic, still aimed straight up at the moon whirred to life as the Doctor pointed out, "Well, it's still active, it's signalling, look. Someone, somewhere in this Library is alive and communicating with the moon; or possibly alive and drying their hair." He kept holding the screwdriver to his ear listening for something, "No, the signal's definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through..."

"Doctor!" River exclaimed as suddenly a light beam sprang from the blue tip of the screwdriver and a fuzzy, hologram-like form of a very much alive Donna Noble appeared in the room.

"Donna!" cried the Doctor gleefully, but the image faded as quickly as it had come.

River pointed, mouth open in surprise, "Doctor, that was your friend! Can you get her back? What was that?"

"Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm trying to find the wavelength." He held the screwdriver to his ear once more, but was met with no success, "Argh, I'm being blocked."

River and the Doctor were both far too absorbed with the hologram puzzle to respond fully when Anita's shaky voice called out, "Professor?"

"Just a moment," she spoke softly, aiming her screwdriver in the same direction as the Doctor's, only with the red settings enabled.

"It's important." Anita insisted. "I have two shadows."

It was about the only thing she could have said to bring them up short and River moved into action immediately.

"Okay," River spoke calmly but firmly, "Helmets on, everyone. Anita, I'll get yours."

"It didn't do Proper Dave any good," the younger woman reminded her dolefully.

"Just keep it together, okay?" River comforted, picking up the helmet and trying to discern how to slip it on Anita without the swarm attacking her too.

"Keeping it together, I'm only crying," Anita sniffled. "I'm about to die, it's not an overreaction."

It wasn't, but all the same River wasn't ready to throw in the towel on Anita either. She clicked the helmet into the girl's suit and stepped back.

"Hang on," the Doctor told Anita, sonicking the helmet.

The visor suddenly darkened and River's stomach sank, "Oh, God, they've got inside."

"No, no, no," he waved his hand to correct her, keeping his eyes fixed on Anita, "I just tinted her visor. Maybe they'll think they're already in there, leave her alone."

"D'you think they can be fooled like that?"

"Maybe, I don't know." he shrugged, eyes meeting hers as he scanned the room. "It's a swarm, it's not like we chat."

"Can you still see in there?" asked Other Dave.

"Just about," came the muffled reply.

Dave was moving forward but the Doctor halted him, "Just, just, just... stay back. Professor, a quick word, please?"

Her arm tingled where he'd briefly touched her and for a moment this could have been any one of their thousand adventures, "What?"

"Down here," he motioned, and they crouched at Anita's feet.

"What is it?" she asked.

His voiced dropped almost to a whisper as he spoke, "Like you said, there are five people still alive in this room."

"Yeah, so?" she prompted.

He bent his head back to meet her eyes, "So... why are there six?"

Anita was facing the back of the room already, but the four others turned around almost simultaneously to see another person in spacesuit standing in the background just before the ghosting voice of Proper Dave called out, "Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Run!" shouted the Doctor, running toward the nearest door, the rest of them hot on his heels.

And run they did, Dave's question haunting them with every step.

The running continued through the section they were in and continued out into one of the long, enclosed walkways between buildings. On the ride over River had spent time looking at old pictures, thinking how lovely it would be to reopen the Library and allow patrons to take a leisurely stroll from one section to the next. The view through the long, curved windows afforded a breathtaking view of the complex. This trip, however, was proving to be one of those _un_-leisurely adventures she and the Doctor often found themselves in, so the stroll would have to wait 'til later.

His trainers sliding sideways on the floor, the Doctor slowed, urging the rest of them forward, "Professor, go ahead, find a safe spot."

A few choice words came to mind at this newest fit of mindless idiocy but she managed to restrain herself to yelling, "It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit, you can't reason with it."

"Five minutes," he held up a hand.

This was a losing battle and she found herself conceding once again to terms she in no way approved of. Still, he needed a sitter.

"Other Dave, stay with him," she ordered, pointing at the Doctor. "Pull him out when he's too stupid to leave." Then upon second thought she held up fingers of her own at her once and future husband and added, "Two minutes, Doctor."

* * *

If there hadn't been others with them she would never had left because even without sticking around she knew exactly what he was going to do. No matter what his face, no matter what his age, the Doctor had a burning desire - almost a primal need - to question his enemies and discern their motives. Part of it was curiosity combined with hundreds upon hundreds of years of traveling the galaxy and the thrill of discovering something new. She knew that thrill all too well even though she sifted through the past where his eyes sought out the future.

How many times, she wondered as they pulled into a room and halted to catch their breath, had she seen him gaze in wonder at a new species even if it was hunting to kill him? But this was a known species, she reminded herself even as she began scanning the room with her screwdriver, and he was well aware of the lethal threat so yes, he'd satisfy his curiosity as to motive but then he'd issue an ultimatum.

River had never seen the logic of negotiating with beings out to kill you unless the negotiations involved shooting. Her lips twisted in a half-smile remembering the Dalek who'd learned the hard way that River Song might run with the Doctor, but she didn't do mercy; especially not when her loved ones' lives were on the line. For one, she didn't have the patience for it and for another life had proved to her over and over again that it's safer to shoot first and ask questions later. A good arsenal at her disposal had always suited her and had saved their lives more often than not. Perhaps it was a bit of the brainwashing that the Sisters never quite healed her of, but River never took chances and she never looked back.

Her husband did. He wore the grief over those he'd killed in the protection of the greater good like a shroud over his eyes if one took the time to look. There was a measure of truth to the accusations of the Silence and others, especially after Gallifrey, though they never bothered to acknowledge the context in which he'd acted. Still, after the Time War he'd tried as hard as possible to issue his enemies a way out before he was forced to stop them. Research and her own travels with him had proved this didn't work for the most part but for as much as it wasn't in her own nature to do so, she could no sooner fault him than he did her.

They were a good team, a good balance. Or at least they had been.

"You know," River mused aloud, halting her scan of the door that seemed to be located on the floor, in the centre of the room they'd stopped in to gaze longingly at the screwdriver and the man it represented, "It's funny, I keep wishing the Doctor was here."

"The Doctor is here, isn't he?" Anita panicked, which River saw as an improvement given the girl's skepticism not thirty minutes earlier. "He's coming back, right?"

River tried to think of the best way to explain what she meant to someone unfamiliar with even the basic of time travel, "You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them? And it's like they're not quite... finished, they're - they're not done yet?"

Nothing but the darkened visor stared back at her so she pressed on as best she could.

"Well," here she hesitated ever so slightly, "Yes, the Doctor's here. He came when I called, just like he always does. But not MY Doctor. Now my Doctor," she was smiling and holding back tears at the same time as she continued, so many memories flashing through her mind, "I've seen whole armies turn and run away," she told Anita while recalling her birth and the events surrounding Demon's Run, "and he'd just swagger off back to his Tardis and open the doors with a snap of his fingers." Her voice became softer, filled with all the love she possessed for the madman and his blue box, "The Doctor... in the Tardis... Next stop: everywhere."

"Spoilers!"

A voice from above, part reprimand with a hint of curiosity, shattered the moment and she spun to see the Doctor leaning against the posts at the top of the second-level stairway.

"Nobody can open a Tardis by snapping their fingers," he shook his head as he descended the stairs and vaulted the last railing to land in front of her. "It doesn't work like that."

"It does for the Doctor," she spoke lightly, meaning to give him hope for the future as his emotions seemed to have snared him again in his brief absence.

"I _am_ the Doctor," he was back to sneering at her now and her hearts fell.

"Yeah," she put her own snark behind the word to mask her tears, unable to meet his too-young, not-green eyes. "Some day."

Clearly unsure what to do with that the Doctor turned and moved over to Anita, questioning her gently about how she was doing.

River suddenly realised who _hadn't _accompanied the Doctor and cut across the conversation harshly, "Where's Other Dave?"

"Not coming, sorry," was his response and it was his turn not to meet her eyes.

Anita's agitation swelled, "Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?"

"I don't know." He looked down, confirming Anita still had two shadows. "Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference."

"It's making a difference all right," the girl spoke matter-of-factly. "No one's ever gonna see my face again."

"Can I get you anything?" he asked softly.

"An old age would be nice," Anita half-joked. "Anything you can do?"

"I'm all over it," he promised, turning away to do just that.

"Doctor..." she stopped him before he'd finished the turn and what came next dug into River's soul like so many shards of glass. "When we first met you. You didn't trust Professor Song. And then she whispered a word in your ear, and you did. My life so far... I could do with a word like that. What did she say?"

Silence fell as half the people in the room knew that was a question that must never be answered. River dropped to her knees from the weight of it all.

Undeterred, Anita pressed him, "Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me."

"Safe..."

From her spot on the floor, even with her back turned to him, River could hear the wheels in his mind clicking into overdrive as he grasped an elusive connexion.

"What?" Anita was now confused.

"Safe." The Doctor was muttering to himself, and River could sense he was close to a breakthrough. "You don't say saved, nobody says saved, you say safe." He spun around, demanding, "The data fragment! What did it say?"

"'4,022 people saved.'" Lux intoned, "'No survivors.'"

River rose to her feet, hope returning, "Doctor?"

He looked 'round the room and began muttering again on the move, "Nobody says saved, nutters say saved, you say safe. But you see, it didn't mean safe, it meant..." He'd been pacing but now he stood still, grabbing his hair with both hands and bursting with the enormity of the revelation Anita had unwittingly given him, "It literally meant... saved!"


	6. Closing Time

**Summer has been eating away at my free time but here it is! The title's based on a 90's song by Semisonic and the one line says, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." I'd say that fits River and the Doctor like a glove.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Closing Time**

_In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time. - Leonardo DaVinci_

The Doctor moved to a kiosk, flanked by River and Lux and began inputting instructions frantically until he found what he was looking for, "See, there it is, right there. A hundred years ago, massive power surge. All the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm. The computer tries to teleport everyone out."

"It tried to teleport four thousand twenty-two people?" River was struggling to wrap her mind around the context, working out what might have happened next.

"It succeeded," the newly animated Doctor corrected her, words rushing out of him like a thundering waterfall. "Pulled them all out, but then what? Nowhere to send them. Nowhere safe in the whole library. Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. Four thousand and twenty-two people all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails." He was waving a finger around in the air and River smiled as he posed his next question, "So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?"

River's smile grew broader in what an older Doctor would've called her "he's hot when he's clever" face and a thrill of hope surged through her for the first time in the adventure, "It saved them."

The Doctor pulled out a marker from within his jacket pocket and hopped over to a large, polished table, shoving the books that littered the top aside.

He drew a large circle, followed by a smaller circle within as he explained, "The library. A whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved four thousand and twenty-two people the only way a computer can." Now he drew an arrow from the larger circle into the smaller one and placed a dot in the centre of the smaller one, "It saved them to the hard drive."

They were still standing next to the table, formulating a next move when the room was bathed in an amber strobe light and an alarm klaxon blared through the building.

"What is it?" Lux's head moved from side to side, straining to see beyond the confines of his helmet. "What's wrong? "

A female computer voice answered him before anyone else could, "Auto-destruct enabled in twenty minutes."

River and the Doctor lost no time in moving back to the computer kiosk and hunching over the screen together. The same auto-destruct message was written out there, along with a visual countdown timer.

"What's maximum erasure?" She asked him.

"In twenty minutes, this planet's going to crack like an egg," came the answer she was dreading.

Lux had an odd expression on his face and calmness in his voice as he assured them, "No. No, it's all right. The Doctor Moon will stop it. It's programmed to protect Cal."

The terminal screen flashed and went blank before they could question Lux.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no! " The Doctor yelled at the machine, giving it a good whack before climbing on top of it to try the sonic.

The lights and alarms continued to sound around them and mere seconds had passed before a male computer voice informed them, "All library systems are permanently offline. Sorry for any inconvenience. Sorry for the in..."

The voice warbled to a halt but Lux was getting more and more agitated by the second, "We need to stop this. We've got to save Cal!"

The Doctor leaned forward, pressing for an answer from the man and in this instance River didn't mind the more abrupt manner of this incarnation, "What is it? What is Cal?"

Lux grimaced then seemed to decide that further obfuscation would only bring more trouble, "We need to get to the main computer. I'll show you."

"It's at the core of the planet," the Doctor goggled incredulously.

"Well, then," River smirked up at him. "Let's go. "

With renewed energy, River moved back to the centre of the room and pointed her screwdriver at the library floor. It opened smoothly, revealing a circular shaft filled with blue light.

"Gravity platform," she announced triumphantly.

The Doctor came up beside her, voice tinged with awe, "I bet I like you. "

River's grin was genuine and her hearts filled with love, "Oh, you do. "

The four stepped on board and descended into the depths of the planet.

* * *

The female computer voice continued chiming as they stepped off the platform and out into the steel-girdered hallway, "Auto-destruct in fifteen minutes."

Finally they rounded a corner and the Doctor looked up. From where she stood, River could see a globe with swirling energy in it.

"The data core," pronounced the Doctor. "Over four thousand living minds trapped inside it."

"Yeah, well, they won't be living much longer," River observed, standing at his side. "We're running out of time."

He was off like a shot and they all followed through the labyrinthine corridors that housed the massive computer, stopping only when he'd located an access terminal.

"Help me. Please, help me," came a plaintive cry from all around them.

"What's that?" Anita asked.

River was confused, "Was that a child?"

"The computer's in sleep mode," replied the Doctor, too busy tapping away at the keyboard to answer their questions for the moment. "I can't wake it up. I'm trying."

"Doctor, these readings," River was growing concerned as she studied her own screen.

"I know," he sounded as flummoxed as she, "You'd think it was dreaming."

"It is dreaming," came Lux's reluctant voice, wrestling to get his gloves off as every eye in the room turned on him. Bitterness crept in as he finished the thought, "...of a normal life, and a lovely Dad, and of every book ever written."

"Computers don't dream," argued Anita.

"Help me. Please help me," came the cry once again.

"No," Lux shook his head, facing Anita even as he opened a large glass cabinet door with the Library seal on it, "but little girls do."

He pulled a breaker and a hidden panel slid open, revealing a doorway. The Doctor was close on Lux's heels with River and Anita close behind. Wires came in from everywhere, coming from the pulsing core overhead and convening in one central node and River gasped as the head swiveled around, repeating its plea for help.

"Oh, my God," she breathed, recognising the face.

"It's the little girl," Anita was shocked as well. "The girl we saw in the computer."

"She's not in the computer," Lux told them. "In a way, she is the computer. The main command node." He turned to face the Doctor directly, "This is Cal."

"Cal is a child?" Came the flabbergasted, then increasingly outraged, response. "A child hooked up to a mainframe? Why didn't you tell me this? I needed to know this!"

"Because she's family!" Lux screamed back, pain leaking from his voice. He turned away from the Doctor and back to the node, gazing at it with love, "Cal. Charlotte Abigail Lux. My grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a library and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time. Any era to live in, any book to read. She loved books more than anything, and he gave her them all."

River's gaze kept flicking from the girl, to Lux, then back again, thinking she'd missed the true measure of this man and at the same time wondering what this poor girl must've been through and given up for immortality.

Lux continued, eyes back on the Doctor, pleading with him to understand, "He asked only that she be left in peace. A secret, not a freak show."

"So you weren't protecting a patent," came the softer reply, more statement than question, "you were protecting her."

Lux stepped forward, caressing the girl's cheek tenderly, "This is only half a life, of course. But it's for ever."

"And then the shadows came," spoke the Doctor, gravely.

"The shadows," said the little girl, eyes moving from Lux to the Doctor and becoming overwhelmed. "I have to. I have to save. Have to save."

"And she saved them.," the Doctor's voice was heavy with emotion as he worked out the last piece of the puzzle. "She saved everyone in the library. Folded them into her dreams and kept them safe."

"Then why didn't she tell us?" asked Anita.

"Because she's forgotten," he replied. "She's got over four thousand living minds chatting away inside her head. It must be like being, well, me."

"So what do we do?" River asked, and as if to back her up the older, female computer voice reminded them that auto-destruct would be initiated in ten minutes.

"Easy!" the Doctor crowed, brushing past River on the way back to the access terminal they'd come from and she knew as soon as the pace of his monologue sped up they were on their way to a solution. "We beam all the people out of the data core. The computer will reset and stop the countdown. Difficult. Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer." She began to grow uncertain when he moved over to a cabinet, pulling it open and concluding, "Easy! I'll hook myself up to the computer. She can borrow my memory space."

"Difficult," River countered, wondering if he'd gone mad, "It'll kill you stone dead."

"Yeah, it's easy to criticise," he casually dismissed her, too busy fiddling with wires to be bothered.

Rive was clutching at him, feeling as if her future, _their _future was unraveling before it could even start for him, "It'll burn out both your hearts and don't think you'll regenerate."

"I'll try my hardest not to die," and whatever was going on in his mind, clearly his ego was still intact. "Honestly, it's my main thing."

"Doctor!"

"I'm right, this works," he blew her off, not bothering with manners. "Shut up. Now listen. You and Luxy boy, back up to the main library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download." He'd finished with those wires, tucked them into the cabinet and without missing a beat or taking a breath added, "And before you say anything else, Professor, can I just mention in passing as you're here, shut up."

"Oh, I hate you sometimes!" River growled and it was the closest to meaning that phrase than she'd ever been.

When he answered with a flippant, "I know!" versus his usual "No you don't!" it was almost a physical pain that hit her, but she had to shove it down.

"Mister Lux," she called, determined to wrest back control of the situation, "with me. Anita, if he dies, I'll kill him!"

She strode out of the room and around the bend to the gravity platform, so angry with the Doctor and his cursed need to always view his own life as less important than everyone else's. She knew he wasn't too far away from giving up this tenth body for a friend and centuries later he would stand on a beach in Utah, ready to give up his own life so that time wouldn't splinter into pieces.

But just as she'd been unwilling to kill him then, she was unable to do so now and with new resolve she ordered Lux to go up ahead of her and get started, the lie that she'd be right behind him slipping easily from her lips.

As soon as he was out of sight she was turning around, racing along the corridor and stopping just shy of the room he was in to pick up on the conversation.

"Don't play games with me," the Doctor was warning somebody, and River would bet her vortex manipulator it was the Swarm. "You just killed someone I liked. That is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up."

It was one of those speeches she'd heard so many times; the kind that made armies run and hide when they realised who they were up against and she prayed it would do the same here.

"You have one day," came Anita's ghost-like voice, and the spacesuit collapsed.

"Oh, Anita," River revealed herself, kneeling down to stroke the younger woman's helmet.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said from the access terminal. "She's been dead a while now. I told you to go!"

"Lux can manage without me," her emotions were choking her and it was crystal clear how this had to end, "but you can't."

Perhaps her Doctor would have seen it coming but this one didn't as with all the force she could muster, she laid him out; watching him crumple to the floor with grim satisfaction.

* * *

Back to front. That's what he'd always said and because she'd seen older versions of him popping up randomly even as she began encountering younger and younger versions of him, she'd classified that definition under Rule One. His first kiss had not been her last and vice versa. When they'd done both Utah – the first time, with the older him – and Manhattan they'd been practically linear. Not to mention the Singing Towers.

She'd brought the handcuffs to tease him with because of his comment at the Byzantium but as she chains one of his hands to an obliging wall, her lips twist with bitter irony. Story of their lives, that. So many of the things they did or the jokes they shared are circular like that. Even her name.

Not twenty-four hours ago, she'd introduced herself to him as "Professor River Song" so that was what he'd always called her. It was the name he associated with this face so when this face had popped up in Berlin after Mels had been shot all he could see was River. The name had nauseated her at first but when all was said and done she had chosen to become River Song because she _wanted _to be the woman he loved so much. To be the River Song his whispered message was meant for.

Berlin had been the first time she'd heard the word "spoilers" too, though he'd always insisted that was _her _word not his. She's said it enough today, when he'd not had a clue who she was, though, setting them up for the future. She would never have guessed that he's been sitting on the mother of all spoilers from the moment they'd met and suddenly his actions in Manhattan when she talked blithely about being pardoned and becoming a professor make sense. He must have known she was nearing her end; and oh, how he does-did-will hate endings.

Her hearts ache because now _her _Doctor has lost all of his beloved Ponds; though a part of her is thankful that at least he won't have to tell her parents that she's gone.

She drops a soft kiss in his pretty boy hair and another on his cheek and slips his screwdriver from his breast pocket before setting about to wire herself into the mainframe. She thinks about how she cradled his face when he wired himself into the Pandorica as she readies the wires, but as she sits down she's thinking of her first kiss. She's glad she gave him her extra regenerations because they wouldn't have done her any more good here than they would him. She wishes that Kovarian could know that in the end the daughter of Amelia Pond and the Last Centurion, is not the woman born to kill the Doctor, but to save him.

The computer interrupts her reverie, counting down to her death, "Auto-destruct in two minutes."

"Oh, no, no, no, no," a panicking voice cuts through her like a knife. "Come on, what are you doing? That's my job."

"Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?" She smirks up at him, hiding the damage with a joke.

"Why am I handcuffed?" he demands. "Why do you even have handcuffs?"

She arches an eyebrow and grins wickedly, "Spoilers."

"This is not a joke," he's emotional and pleading with her. "Stop this now. This is going to kill you! I'd have a chance, you don't have any."

_If only you knew, my love, _she thinks, but says aloud, "You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I." It's the truth, if not the whole of it and he's not going to like what she says next, either, "I'm timing it for the end of the countdown. There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download."

Our, she says, because they are always a team; even in this last act.

"River, please. No!"

Her emotions are too overwhelming now. It's all too much and it's happening too fast to keep the words spilling out, "Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die. All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here." His face looks stricken but she can't help continuing; can't help giving him one last spoiler so that at least he won't always be questioning which adventure will be their last. So he knows that they aren't strictly back to front, "The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean, you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. What a night that was. The Towers sang, and you cried."

"Auto-destruct in one minute," the computer reminds them.

_This is the story of Melody Pond, _she thinks in her head even as she continues telling her very captive audience their story, "You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the Library. You even gave me your screwdriver. That should have been a clue."

They both look at the floor where she's placed the two screwdrivers and her diary just out of the Doctor's reach.

_And this is how it ends,_ she finishes the thought silently, even as he strains against the cuffs for his screwdriver, "There's nothing you can do."

"You can let me do this," he insists angrily.

And this is it, she realises: the string that could be pulled and undo everything she's ever known. Everything she's ever loved. So she pour her soul into her argument, "If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you.

"Time can be rewritten."

_Yes, love, _she wants to scream at him. _Yes it can and we have but..._ "Not those times," she shakes with emotion. "Not one line. Don't you dare!"

He looks so stunned and she doesn't want to scare him so she softens her voice to reassure him, "It's okay. It's okay. It's not over for you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. You and me, time and space. You watch us run."

She's feeling somewhat proud and poetic now, but that doesn't last because he's got one last question. His first question. The question that will haunt him until Demon's Run. He didn't care how she knew his name once he knew who she was.

"River, you know my name."

"Auto-destruct in ten," the computer counts down.

But he's not done, "You whispered my name in my ear."

"Nine, eight, seven..." and she is donning a crown, readying herself for the end.

"There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name," he insists, so confused. So young. "There's only one time I could."

"Hush, now," River soothes as the countdown reaches three. Hot tears slip down her cheek as she slips in one last word. A word that is a promise that there is so much more to come and that their story will never really end, "Spoilers."

The countdown reaches one and she joins two power cables together, his face the last thing she sees.

There is a blinding light and she is gone, but _they _have just begun.

* * *

**Epilogue to come. Please let me know what you think. :)**


	7. Stories in the End

**Well, here we are. You and me on the last page. It's been a fun ride and thanks to anyone who commented, followed, or favourited along the way. It's my first foray into Whofic, but I think I'll come back to play again soon. I need the writing therapy to survive the coming Fall. Besides, my muse has been fueled since Moffat's Nerd HQ comment that River would probably do just about ANYTHING to the Doctor behind closed doors.**

* * *

**Epilogue: Stories in the End**

_If my ship sails from sight, it doesn't mean my journey ends, it simply means the river bends.  
- John Enoch Powell_

One of her favourite literary artists of the late 20th century wrote that to the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure and River has always believed there's a certain truth to that. Not that self-preservation hasn't always been high on her list, especially when she was younger, but a few centuries under her belt have brought perspective and taught her there are worse things to fear than death.

And she has had a good life.

Her life's work has been bound up in studying how people throughout all time and space lived and died. Some never see it coming while others have a few months or years to put things in order while their mind or body or both give out.

She was given ten minutes and it is entirely her choice. That makes all the difference.

Histories will record that she died to preserve the four thousand and twenty-two Library patrons but that won't tell the whole story. One lone witness will come closer. He will comment in an article for an obscure journal about the four thousand and twenty-third person that he married in CAL's virtual world, though the historian never was able to track her down to prove it one way or the other. And no one will mention the Doctor, because no one ever does and in any case the Universe's databases have been purged of his existence for quite some time now.

And so it will never be recorded that - in that paradoxical manner which defines them - she is here at the end/beginning to save one good man, and in doing so saves herself as well. After all, 11 comes after 10 and hauls a married couple along with him on their wedding night and because that is her beginning, this has to be her end.

The last wires connect in a flash of brilliant white light and she braces herself for the end.

But it's not.

There are no angels or demons awaiting her. Just a little girl.

"It's okay," Charlotte assures her, flanked by Doctor Moon. "You're safe. You'll always be safe here. The Doctor fixed the data core. This is a good place now."

The Library as her final refuge seems appropriate, she thinks, only half listening to what's being said as she takes in her surroundings.

"But I was worried you might be lonely," the little one smiles as if hiding a secret. "So I brought you some friends. Aren't I a clever girl?"

"Aren't we all?" says a familiar voice, though one which sounds far more confident than the ditzy assistant it once belonged to.

She whirls to find not just Miss Evangelista, but her entire team striding toward her.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" she exclaims because now that neural relay she'd discovered the first night in her cabin on the trip here makes complete sense just as she'd trusted it eventually would. "He just can't do it, can he? That man, that impossible man! He just can't give in."

He can't any more than she could. Neither one of them likes goodbyes.

When she finds her room in the mansion there is an old, battered friend waiting for her on her bed. She'd given it to her mother once with hopes that its empty pages would be filled again. It had been and once again she'd been able to record how they'd saved reality.

In this vast Matrix of books she can think of none other she'd rather have and when the children beg her for a bedtime tale she knows just which one to tell them.

She begins with her last entry in what has always been the only story worth telling:

_When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it will never end. But however hard you try, you can't run for ever. Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark, if he ever, for one moment accepts it. Everybody knows that everybody dies._

_But not every day._

_Not today._

_Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all. Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair, and the Doctor comes to call... everybody lives._

"Sweet dreams, everyone."


End file.
